Indigenous factsheet: Insurance

What is insurance?

Insurance helps pay for your expenses or replace property when
things go wrong. You make regular payments for insurance, so if
something happens you can make a claim for some money.

Types of insurance

There are many different types of insurance:

Car insurance - different types of insurance
cover your car for theft or accidents and can also cover you if
your car hits people or damages someone else's property

Contents insurance - covers the cost to
replace or fix the things in your home like your TV if it is stolen
or damaged

Home insurance - building insurance for home
owners that covers the cost of replacing your home if it is
damaged

Life or funeral insurance - pays a set amount
of money when you pass away

Health insurance - covers some of your medical
costs if you are sick or injured

Insurance is not savings so:

You don't get the money back.

If you stop paying, the policy ends and you don't get a refund
of the money you have paid so far.

Over time, you may end up paying more than you will receive
from any claim.

Tip: Check what's covered

You can only claim on your insurance if the event that happens
is covered in your insurance policy. You should check what is
covered and what is not.

Case study: Danny needed insurance

Danny decided not to get insurance when he bought a secondhand
car. A month later, Danny had a car accident. Because it was his
fault, it cost him $3,000 to pay the owner of the other car for the
damage and $1,000 to fix his own vehicle.

Danny had to get a loan to pay off the damage and was left with
no car to drive while his car was getting fixed. If Danny had car
insurance, he could have claimed the cost of repairs to both
cars.